Next up in our Fahrenheit employee profile series is one of our creative content developers, Sherri. She spends her days developing strong content for our clients that keeps them up in the SERPs while converting clicks into customers. Learn how her love for writing and all things Thai keeps her busy at home, too.

Where are you from?

I’m from a tiny town, Waxhaw, N.C., just south of Charlotte, N.C. I grew up there but always had dreams of leaving my town full of cotton fields and antique shops, and traveling the big, wide world.

When did your love for writing begin?

From the time I could hold a pencil. I always had Lisa Frank notebooks in my drawers full of stories all written in pink marker. Once I learned about similes, metaphors and personification, I thought it was amazing how words could be combined to paint pictures in people’s minds. My love for writing has only blossomed more over the years.

What kind of writing have you done?

I studied journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. While there, I wrote for the daily school newspaper, as well as two other campus magazines. After I graduated I moved to Bangkok, Thailand, where I taught SAT Writing and Grammar. I moved back to America two years later, and I wrote for a local newspaper in North Carolina. Now I do content writing for Fahrenheit Marketing.

How did you first become interested in content developing?

After realizing journalism was all slowly moving online, I wanted to stay abreast of the new styles of writing. I took an internship at Fahrenheit Marketing and savored learning content development and how I could use my writing skills to help companies grow and flourish.

What did you enjoy most about Thailand?

My favorite part was meeting my husband there! My friend introduced me to Dominic at our church, and I thought he was the cutest Thai guy I had ever seen. We fell in love and got married across the river from the Grand Palace in Bangkok. And our son Rocco was born on September 24, 2012. I love working from home for Fahrenheit because I get to spend the rest of my time with the most adorable Thai-American baby in the world.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you?

I can cook Thai food that my Thai husband says is legit. I even started my own Thai cooking blog, Thai-Foodie. My love for Thai food is what led me to Thailand. After moving back to America I missed real Thai food so much, I started to learn how to cook it. It’s fun to use my love for writing, and cooking Thai food, to teach others how to cook it on my blog.

Sherri is just one of our many talented Fahrenheit employees. To learn more about Fahrenheit Marketing and how our team will work together to convert your clicks into clients, contact us today and set-up your consultation.

Lists make it easier to digest piles of information, but many are so boring to look at that we wonder, why take the time to read them? To help your lists get the attention they deserve, try out one of these list ideas we found on UI Patterns:

1. Photos: Instead of using numbers or plain bullets next to your information, photos will pull in the reader.

2. Number on the right: To help make your list stand out, put the numbers on the right instead of the left.

3. Bar graph: If you are comparing different amounts of information, making a colorful bar graph will help the reader visualize it.

5. Horizontal instead of vertical: This list makes the most of your page realty while jumping out at the reader.

6. Box it up: Highlight the list by putting it in a pull-out box and placing the header in its own box above the list.

7. Spread it out: Instead of keeping information right next to each other, spreading it out makes it easier to read.

8. Images: Placing a graphic design that connects with each piece of listed content will connect with readers who are more visual.

9. Connect an illustration with your list: Instead of just listing steps, have an illustration above that shows the process.

10. Paragraph: If you don’t have much available space on your page, put your list in a paragraph form and bold the headings.

11. Filter: Filtered lists help you give users exactly what they are looking for, like this list that lets you filter people by their job position.

12. Background: Giving a customized background graphic to each point helps highlight each aspect.

13. Light and dark shades: Using different shades of the same color brings unity to the list while bringing out specific points.

14. Pop out: Having the call to action jump out on the list leads to smooth conversions.

15. Bright colors: A bright color on the toned down background gives that aspect even more oomph.

Fahrenheit Marketing’s expert Web designers are always researching the newest and best ways to design for conversions. To learn more about how we can help you convert clicks into customers, contact us today and set-up your consultation.

If you want your business to rank higher in search engines, get more conversions and more revenue, you have to live out your unique selling proposition or USP. Your USP tells consumers what you have to offer that no one else can offer. It’s why your business must exist.

A recent Entrepreneur article shared that the key to successful marketing is a good USP, and gave some questions you can ask to determine it:

Why should consumers read or listen to you?

Why should they believe what you have to say?

Why should they do anything about what you are offering?

Why should they act now?

Once you answer those questions, you will then have a clear mission. This will help you in determining who your target audience is so you can market your ads to them.

Discovering Your USP Will Set You Free

It is freeing once you discover your USP because then you don’t have to worry about being an expert at what you aren’t good at, and instead just steer all your efforts on what you are amazing at. Instead of shouting at consumers, “Hey! We have cool stuff like them too!” you can say, “We are the only ones who offer this! You have to come to us!”

An idea for becoming a niche expert is to combine two things you love that have never been combined before. Bacon and chocolate was might thought of as weird at first, but now it’s becoming a dessert craze. If you are good at plumbing and Web design, create Web designs for plumbers. If you know everything about coffee and graphic design, create prints and designs for coffee shops.

Instead of trying to compete with every other business, start something that other businesses will have to compete against. To learn more about how Fahrenheit Marketing can help you determine your USP and convert clicks into clients, contact us today and set-up a consultation.

Many small businesses have so much going on, it’s hard for them to figure out how to do SEO in the midst of it all. This article shares some tasks business owners can focus on to strengthen their content-creation strategies.

Instead of using your brand’s colors for the landing page, use color theory to draw in your target audience to your site. Discover what feelings certain colors convey to a visitor and how you can use color associations to convert customers.

Everyone is talking about how content marketing is the best online marketing strategy, but learn how you can use analytical programs to see if you are really making a return on investment through your content strategies.

Our Web developers love open source code and software because they help them share and learn new methods from other developers. This article highlights a variety of open source projects for all levels of Web developers.

Dixon Jones was recently recognized for his content contributions in Top Rank’s Top UK Online Marketing Influencers and Bloggers list. In this article, he shares five practical reasons for marketers to analyze links beyond search.

If you are a small business, it’s important not only to have a business plan, but one that is growth oriented. These tips will help direct your growth planning sessions.

Our team is always keeping track of what’s new in the online marketing industry, so we can better serve our clients. To learn more about how our services can turn your clicks into clients, contact Fahrenheit Marketing today and set-up a consultation.

We’ve all learned that social media is a great way to spread the content we’ve worked so hard to create. Social media shares are like free advertising, but even better because people find endorsements from their friends to be much more credible than advertising. So how do we decide which social media buttons to include?

Don’t Have Too Many Buttons

For some website managers, the solution is to include every social media button that exists, but doing this could cause you to end up with fewer social media shares. Here’s why:

Too many social media buttons can slow down your website, which will hurt your Google rankings and increase your website’s bounce rate.
More options mean that your visitors will have a harder time choosing which network to use.According to Quick Sprout, people are more likely to click one of your social sharing buttons when you give them three or four options instead of five or more. And they recommend only using four buttons if you have more than 50,000 monthly visitors.

Which Buttons Should You Use?

Now that you know how many buttons to use, it’s time to decide which ones are right for your website. This process isn’t one-size-fits-all, though. The right choice for one website won’t necessarily be the right one for another site.

To help you decide which buttons to use, look into your analytics tools to see which social media sites refer the most traffic to your website. While you’re at it, think critically about the demographic of your ideal visitors. Are they businessmen in their 50s? Maybe offering a LinkedIn share button could help spread your message. Are they 35-year-old housewives who love to craft? Try having a “Pin It” button so they can share your post on Pinterest.